


After

by AdventTraitor



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Gen, child!Ja'far, implied Sinja, waka!Sinbad - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 05:43:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3369956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdventTraitor/pseuds/AdventTraitor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ja'far confronts Sinbad with the harsh reality that becoming a king will entail, and it isn't taken well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After

**Author's Note:**

> There is a scene that some of you will recognize from TWD that the beginning of this fic came from. XD All I could think was Sinja during the whole thing, so here is my version. Ja'far is ~13 and Sinbad ~17, so he's kind of an angsty teenager right now.

“Wash your own clothes—I’m not your maid.”

“You’re kind of a pain in my ass.”

Ja’far blinked, sitting up to lean on an elbow and pulling his gaze from the sky and toward the direction Sinbad’s voice came from. The fire in the middle of their campsite caused the light on Sin’s back to flicker, giving only a half-image of the other boy—it didn’t help that he was faced away from the fire and into the black night and wilderness beyond, giving little but posture as a way to read his mood. Sin’s posture was never very good, but something about the way he was slumped over made the witty comeback die in his mouth.

“…Yeah. But you’ll miss me when I’m gone.”

With that, he let himself rest on his back again, his hands pulling up and behind his head to act as a cushion. There was silence between the two for a few moments before Sinbad spoke up again.

“…What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means…” Ja’far started, before he sighed, his hands moving to cover his eyes instead as he thought. “It means that you’re gonna make it. You really are meant to do great things, cliché as that sounds. The rest of us…well. We’ll help you get there. We’ll go as far as we can with you…but in the end, it’s you. It’s always been you.”

Ja’far bit down on his own lip for a moment, breathing another soft sigh before looking over to Sinbad again, who was now facing him. “But even though you’re mad now…later, you’ll miss me.”

“Don’t talk like that.” Sinbad’s tone was terse, his words short. “It’s morbid and unnecessary.”

Ja’far shrugged, eyes closed. “As you wish. You know it’s true, though.”

“Shut up.”

“You’re not denying it.”

“You want to leave? Leave, then. I don’t get why you’re even talking about this,” Sinbad snarled, giving Ja’far his back again.

“I don’t want to leave,” Ja’far answered softly. “Becoming a person with enough power to change the world will require sacrifice…sometimes of things, sometimes of ideals, sometimes of people…and I think you already know that. Once you can accept it, you can move forward.”

“The point is to create a place where none of that is necessary,” was the grunted reply.

“Yeah. But you have to get there first,” Ja’far sighed. “I’m willing to do anything…even die, when the time comes. Eventually, you’ll have to be willing to let me go.”

“You can go die right now, as far as I’m concerned. Go on, if that’s what you want so badly.”

Ja’far sat up, resting his chin on his knees. “You don’t mean that.”

Sinbad was silent for a few moments before he rolled over, his face holding more exhaustion than Ja’far had ever seen in the past.

“…No. I don’t. I’m sorry.”

Ja’far nodded, looking out into the darkness. “You’ll do okay. It won’t always be easy, but you’ll do okay. I can feel it.”

“ _We_ will. I know you think this will become some kind of suicide mission for whatever reason, but it won’t. We’ll all be old and fat and happy by the end of our lives. Words and beliefs have power in them, you know. Believe it’ll be okay and do your very best to make it that way, and you’ll find things are a lot better than they could have been.”

Ja’far turned his dark eyes on Sinbad, blinking once before he answered. “I believe in you.”

“Good. I’ll make sure everyone’s just as okay as me, then.”

“Okay.”

There was silence for another minute, before Sinbad spoke again.

“Don’t go throwing yourself in front of me. I can fight pretty well, you know. Even the battles that aren’t fought with a sword or magic.”

“It’s your back I’m more worried about.”

Sinbad chuckled, drawing close and pulling Ja’far into an embrace. “Then I need not worry. Stay there forever, and we’ll both be okay.”

“…I will.”


End file.
